Chelsea chairman Ken Bates wrapped his arm around Gianluca Vialli in a public show of support for his manager.

Bates believes Vialli has not received the respect he deserves for a campaign which may well have fallen short on Premiership and European fronts but has still given the Blues an FA Cup final to savour at Wembley next Saturday.

The chairman accompanied the Italian coach and his players on a sunlit lap of honour after a second-half demolition of Derby County brought down the curtain on another season of "so nearly" glory at Stamford Bridge.

Now there is a nearly a week for Vialli to implement his final plan designed to capture the major trophy he insists will be prove it has been a successful season after all for his multi-national millionaires.

But surely Aston Villa will put up much more of a fight at Wembley than injury-decimated Derby achieved. Jim Smith's team, pieced together from the remains of a tough, relegation-dodging season, rightly felt hard done by when referee Jeff Winter failed to award them a 25th minute penalty when the scoresheet was still blank.

But by that time they should have been thankful that the game was still alive as a realistic contest.

Gianfranco Zola, Gus Poyet, Roberto di Matteo and Tore Andre Flo eventually emerged triumphant from a myriad of wasted Chelsea chances to finally bury Derby in a one-sided second half.

And as Vialli, Bates and their men embarked on the traditional lap of honour at the end there were only minor worries to cloud the Wembley horizon.

Spanish right back Albert Ferrer, back after missing five games with an ankle injury, last only 30 minutes before he had to hobble off and colossal French centre-back Marcel Desailly was also withdrawn in the second half with a similar complaint.

Vialli had also left out Liberian striker George Weah who has been suffering a back strain while Dutch keeper Ed de Goey missed his first Premiership match of the season, spending what would have been his 59th appearance this term on the bench.

But in the end, Chelsea had just enough fire-power to record only their second win in seven matches, a bitterly disappointing run-in to a campaign of so much rich promise.

But with powerful Uruguayan Poyet registering his 18th goal of the season with an unstoppable header in the 54th minute after Zola's neat finish punished Jacob Laursen's error less than two minutes after the break, there was still plenty to cheer for 35,000 sun-drenched Stamford Bridge fans.

Di Matteo fired in a Dennis Wise pass to make it 3-0 with nearly 20 minutes left and with Derby players already looking ahead to a summer on Europe's beaches with Premiership survival already assured, Flo extravagantly flicked in a stoppage-time fourth to make sure he stayed one ahead of prolific 18-goal midfielder Poyet in the Chelsea top-scoring stakes.

It might not have been such a sunshine stroll had Winter given Derby the penalty they were convinced they should have had in the 25th minute.

Referee Winter was way behind the play but perfectly in line with the incident when Celestine Babayaro wrestled Dean Sturridge to the ground inside the area. The Rams could barely believe it when the Cleveland official waved play on.

But really they should have been grateful they were not trailing by a hatful of goals by then.

Zola, twice one-on-one with keeper Mart Poom before completely mistiming an unmarked eight-yard header, wasted three golden chances to put Chelsea in comfortable command within the first 20 minutes. Then Flo and di Matteo both struck the same post.

Derby, without the injured Daryl Powell, Horacio Carbonari and Branko Strupar as well as suspended Stefan Schnoor also went into the game without the unpredictable genius of Georgi Kinkladze.

Manager Jim Smith employed two centre-forwards - Deon Burton and Dean Sturridge - as wide men either side of youngster Malcolm Christie but it was not until the 23rd minute that Carlo Cudicini, making his Premiership debut, was seriously tested.

Lars Bohinen hit a stinging drive from 25 yards after a corner was only half-cleared, but it flew straight at the Italian goalkeeper.

Chelsea's chance-spurning became almost habitual, though with even the normally lethal Poyet missing twice from promising positions.

But it all came right after the break, with Zola capitalizing on Laursen's failure to clear Poyet's cross to slide the ball home within two minutes of the resumption, and then Poyet powering in to land a thumping header from Zola's corner seven minutes later after Poom saved brilliantly from Flo.

Di Matteo clinically finished when Dennis Wise delivered a perfect through ball and right at the death Flo cheekily heel-flicked the fourth past Poom from a cut-back by Ferrer's impressive replacement, Dutchman Mario Melchiot.

Teams:

Chelsea: Cudicini, Ferrer (Melchiot 32), Desailly (Terry 57), Leboeuf, Babayaro, Di Matteo, Wise, Deschamps, Poyet (Ambrosetti 64), Flo, Zola.

Subs Not Used: de Goey, Morris.

Booked: Di Matteo.

Goals: Zola 47, Poyet 55, Di Matteo 69, Flo 90.

Derby: Poom, Delap (Jackson 64), Laursen, Elliott (Riggott 56), Dorigo, Burley, Bohinen (Murray 64), Johnson, Sturridge, Burton, Christie.

Subs Not Used: Oakes, Boertien.

Att: 35,084

Ref: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees).